Chitwan

One of the things that Nepal is most famous for is Chitwan National Park. It is described in the Lonely Planet as 'one of Asia's best wildlife-viewing spots'. It was something I missed out on last time I was in Nepal and was really pleased when the opportunity arose to go this time. The only downside of going to Chitwan is the return to the Terai and therefore over 40C heat. It is very warm. However,  after living in it for 5 weeks I was a little more acclimatised than the others which I was very grateful for!

The best way to see Chitwan's selection of wildlife is to do a walking tour which starts off with a canoe ride down the river and then a safety talk from the guides. I had heard about the safety talk from others so wasn't surprised to hear that to escape a rhino you climb a tree while you stay in a group if there is a sloth bear. However, the more I was hearing about sloth bears the less I wanted to meet one. What I thought was a fairly docile creature turns out to be very fast and keen on taking off people's noses. Luckily it is fairly rare for tourists to see them and even more rare for them to be hurt by them.

And so with the implication that everything was out to kill us in Chitwan we set off on our walk with all of us trying to walk quietly. However,  as one of the group was wearing waterproof trousers we weren't really that quiet.

Our two guides were incredibly experienced both in finding animals and in dealing with tourists - with the latter potentially being the more difficult of the two skills. Most people who come to Chitwan are here to see rhinos and so the first part of the walk was quite stop-start while we looked for them. We spent a while waiting at lakes to see if rhinos approached and our patience was rewarded.

We saw one rhino getting out of the water and another settling into it to cool off. It may seem obvious but they are huge and, even from a safe distance, they seem massive. Because of their size it seems difficult to believe they can move that fast but it is not something I want to put to the test.  Their sight is poor but their hearing is excellent. You could tell they were constantly listening as their ears swiveled around and if something made a noise in the jungle their ears were immediately pointing in that direction.

The rhinos were incredibly impressive to see and it was amazing to watch this huge creature lumber out of the water. It is definitely a creature I was happy to see at a safe distance however!

After seeing the rhinos the guides seemed to relax more and I was able to chat to the older one. He has been guiding for many years and is a Tharu, the local people in Chitwan. Their culture is slightly different to the rest of Nepal and I was able to see some of their native dancing the previous evening which, as always, made me feel very untalented. When I was talking to him I mentioned we were lucky to see rhinos. He smiled at me, shook his head and said 'No, I know where to find rhinos'. This really made me laugh as it wasn't arrogance on his part but the knowledge that he is good at his job and has been doing it for many years. We were very lucky to have our two guides, who were both excellent and incredibly eagled eyed.

Chitwan was great and walking in the huge jungle was lovely, if very hot and sticky. The rhino was impressive but we were also lucky enough to see monkeys, deer and crocodiles. Deer are far more common than the rhinos and so we saw many of them. They are all very graceful and one of the guides cheerfully referred to them as Bambi as they did look exactly like the cartoon. I would definitely recommend visiting Chitwan but, if you get the option, probably in a slightly cooler season! 

Panchasse

Another of the lesser known treks around Pokhara is a walk to Panchasse, a small village with wonderful people and a beautiful walk.

To begin the trek you get on a short bus ride to a town nearby. It may be a short bus ride but it was also the bumpiest I have ever been on. I've been on many mountain roads and poor excuses for paths but this one was like driving on constant, very uneven, speedbumps. It was great fun! Although not the most relaxing bus ride I've been on and definitely not one where I was going to be reading a book.

Once again we employed the tactic of ask at every junction and this worked to our advantage more than ever. As we got further from Pokhara there were fewer people that spoke fluent English but all seemed to know where we were going and pointed us in the right direction. One gentleman had excellent English and told us that we were going in the right direction but there was a much better and easier way to get there. This is just one of the many hundreds of examples of the Nepalese attitude of going the extra mile to help people.

This new route also placed us in a town called Siduane in time for lunch. As we walked into the village a lady stopped us and, clearly understanding that we were doing the trek and it was lunchtime, offered to provide us with plenty of daal bhatt for a small price. I think this is why I love travelling in Nepal so much - even if you are in the middle of no where there are people you've never met before happy to help and offer you any assistance that they can. It makes it so easy to travel as there is much less that you need to worry about as a random Nepali stranger has probably worried about it for you!

After the daal bhatt had settled and we were given more directions we started the final stretch of walking. As we had been getting higher we were getting great views of the valley and we had been very lucky with the weather as it hadn't rained. It was a good day's walking but a long one and I was very glad to get there, wash the sweat off and not think about climbing more stairs!

The way back down from Panchasse was much easier than the way up. Although it sounds obvious that going downhill is easier than uphill it is often not the case as going constantly downhill can be very hard on your joints. However, we went a different way down that involved a lot less stairs. The weather was quite misty and so we didn't get great views of the mountains but, having grown up in England, I am more than happy to walk in misty and rainy weather and it is better than England as it is not freezing cold.

It was a lovely trek that was much more relaxing than the longer treks I have done. It also makes me want to do more of the lesser known treks in Nepal as walking in more isolated areas is a very different experience. We saw no other tourists and so making the trek incredibly peaceful and everyone we met seemed to be there to help us. Technically we are an industry and tourists are the income for many of these people but it didn't feel like it at all. We were welcomed warmly everywhere and, as always, people went out of the way to help is. But it isn’t with the attitude that they expect something back but simply because it is the culture here and just because we are from a different country doesn't mean we are exempt from this. It is going to be a bit of a shock going back to England and especially the London attitude!

Homestay

One of the lesser known things to do in Pokhara is a very short trek to a village called Lalchowk where you can organise a homestay. Nepali people are very welcoming and they love being the welcoming host!

We have done many walks around Pokhara now and one thing that we've learnt is that the quickest way to get to where you want to go without getting lost is to ask. We had a map of the area but, being Nepal, I'm not sure when it was last updated. We quickly realised this when we crossed what we thought was the first bridge only to establish that a fair amount of construction has happened in the area since the map was printed.

Luckily Nepali people are all to happy to direct lost tourists and at every junction there was someone happy to wave us in the right direction. One gentleman even stopped his truck to give us directions with a big smile - not something you get in London.

We were welcomed warmly on arriving and were ushered in and sat down with tea before we had time to think. Even with no forewarning about us visiting the lady we stayed with, Puma, welcomed us as though our visit had been looked forward to for months. A very welcome reception after a hot days walking!

Puma's home is beautiful - her house looks over the paddy fields with the valley in the background and it is a very peaceful setting. We were able to sit and watch as the monsoon rain came along the valley. It was lovely to sit and watch the rain approaching from the safety of shelter and we were glad wr hadn't walkd slower!

Having lived with four Nepali girls I have seen the energy that they can have but Puma takes it a step further. She is bubbling over with enthusiasm. She may not have a huge amount of English but she could get across whole stories using exaggerated mimes and a few words. I don't think I saw her keep still for any great length of time for our whole stay and she was great fun, if a bit tiring, to be around.

The next day we were taken to the temple, which we were told was an hour away. Temples are commonly on top of hills and so, once again, we braved many, many stairs. It also turns out that the 'one hour' was a Nepali one hour and so two hours later we arrived at the top. It had been a nice walk, but one that was much more difficult than I expected. I had been decieved by Puma wearing sandals and a saree into thinking it would not be that difficult. However, I have seen women wearing sarees and flip flops carrying huge packs on their backs up hills in the rain. I  think this is in large part because of necessity as flip flops are cheap and accessible but I do wonder what they think when they see all the tourists wearing huge hiking boots.

It was great to stay with Puma and I really enjoyed being back in a Nepali's home. I like being in parts of Nepal that are off the beaten track as, although it is nice to have the comforts found in the tourist areas, I find people are more welcoming and friendly in lesser known parts amd tourists are seen as less of an industry and more as people. If ever someone in Pokhara wanted something different to do I would definitely recommend visiting Puma.

Peace Pagoda

The World Peace Pagoda is one of the main sights to see when in Pokhara and I visited last time I was in Nepal. Having visited it the normal way previously - by crossing the lake and climbing the hill - this time we decided to take the slightly more scenic route of walking around the lake and then up the hill. It turns out that we didn't just take the scenic route but the very scenic route.

Once we had gone around the bottom of the lake amd started up the hill there were multiple paths to follow and logic suggested that we just head upwards and we should reach the Peace Pagoda. However, it turns out that just heading upwards results in a much more up-and-down route than heading around a little first! Having sat in Bhaunne for five weeks it was nice to be moving, even if it was still quite warm and muggy. By the time we reached the top both of us were very sweaty!

Luckily, we were rewarded with a spectacular view. As the Peace Pagoda is on top the hill you can see across Pokhara and it is much bigger than I realised and I suspect it is growing to cope with Nepal's increasing population. I would love to come back in ten years to see how much it changes as I suspect many more of the green areas of hills will be covered by houses, which will be a huge shame but I think it is something that is happening everywhere.

Due to our very scenic route we also got to see the other side of the hill. Esentially this is a valley filled with houses and, again, there were many more than I would have guessed. It was a reminder that as tourists we tend to stick to the same areas in Nepal and we forget about the rest. This combined with talking to other travellers makes me realise how lucky I was to essentially have lived in a Nepali's house for five weeks.

I was able to see a part of Nepal barely seen by Western tourists and it is a beautiful part of the country. I was also able to get a feel of what it was like to live and grow up in a village where there are few opportunities. Lots of people want to move out of Bhaunne and I think the girls at the clinic would all like to move to somewhere bigger as there really is little to do there and the job prospects are limited to farmer or shop keeper. It is so different from where I grew up in a very multi-cultural city that offers many different opportunities. It makes me realise how lucky I am.

After eating lunch while appreciating the view we headed back down.  The man running the restaurant we ate at mentioned the local bus and ten minutes later when the heavens opened we realised why. It is, indeed, monsoon here and that particular afternoon it poured with rain. It was heavy enough that there was no point in trying to keep dry but to just except that you were going to be soaked through and be glad that it wasn't cold!

After a much shorter route back (half the time) we squelched back into Lakeside, the touristy area to Pokhara. We got many a strange look from people and I was very glad to get back to the guesthouse, peel off my clothes, and have a shower!

Back in Kathmandu

Josh and I left Chisang Clinic less than a week ago but it already feels like it's been weeks since we were there. It has been nice being in a cooler climate as although it is still always above 25C here and quite humid it is much cooler than Bhaunne. It is a novelty being able to sit in the shade and to not be sweating and it also means that a lot more can be done in the middle of the day.

Debendra has very kindly allowed us to stay at his house while we are in Kathmandu and so we are very lucky. Not only does this save us money but it is much nicer staying in a home where you get a bit more space - it is the first time I've my own room in 5 weeks and it's quite nice having some space to sort my things out. It also means that we don't have to stay in the tourist district of Kathmandu, called Thamel.

I remember Thamel from when I was last in Nepal but it was still a bit of a shock turning up there after being in Bhaunne. It is much busier than Bhaunne and the shops and restaurants are worlds apart. It is much more developed and there is a huge range of things available. Having eaten rice and lentil curry for 5 weeks it was strange to see so many choices on the menu from different parts of the world and for meals not to have to contain rice!

While Thamel serves a purpose and there are few places as good for souvenir shopping in Nepal it is nice to be able to leave it. It is quite hectic and people there are trying to make a living and consequently everyone is trying to sell you something which can be quite tiring. It's therefore nice to escape and it's also nice seeing another part of the city as Kathmandu is absolutely huge.

The people of Kathmandu and the valley surrounding it seem to have a very different attitude to white skinned people compared to those in Bhaunne. Everyone is still friendly and lovely but seeing us is less of a shock. When walking near Debendra's house people look at us with curiosity as, clearly, we are a little out of place but it is not with the amazement that people in Bhaunne stared.

The standard of English is also phenomenal. Many people speak English with barely any accent - old as well as young. One little girl, less than 10 years old, was talking to us and her English was fantastic. I would guess that the best schools in the country are in Kathmandu and that the standard of education in the capital is much higher than the more remote parts. Tourists from abroad rarely go to the far east or west of Nepal and so English would not be not heard as commonly and the need to speak English for tourism doesn't exist in the same way.

Continuing our very touristy few days we also went white water rafting. We had a great group of people and, again, it was strange being surrounded by English rather than Nepali and umderstanding everything that was said! The rapids were great and you really had to focus when going through them and listen carefully to the instructions from the guide. The stretches of rapids are relatively short which is actually quite good as paddling can be very tiring! To have short intense bursts and then a chance to relax was perfect.

In stretches of calmer water you were also able to go swimming and floating down a river is possibly the beat was to travel. It was a good opportunity to cool off as the sun was very strong that day! The only downside was getting back into the raft which was anything other than dignified.

It's been a busy few days and it's been great seeing more of Kathmandu and doing some touristy things as well. It's definitely a seperate world to Bhaunne! 

Leaving Chisang

Yesterday morning Josh and I left Chisang Clinic for the final time. Time seems to have moved very strangely during the five weeks we were there - at times the days felt very long when there was little happening but equally at the end of each week the time seemed to have slipped by quite quickly.

Nepali goodbyes are not quite like English goodbyes, there is much less emotion and hanging around. This may partly be because they are more used to long seperations than people in England. As far as I am aware the girls only see their families once or twice a year, despite some of them living within a couple of hours of the clinic.

It was, however, very sad to leave. It may have been a bit of a shaky start but the girls were absolutely wonderful, crazy but wonderful. Debendra had told us the girls were a lively lot which, to start with, didn't really show. However, once we got to know them the girls proved this statement to be incredibly accurate and they were the polar opposite of dull - even if we didn't always understand exactly what was going on!

Admittedly it would have been nice to see a few more patients but seeing how the healthcare system works in a totally different setting is an important part of an elective and Chisang Clinic proved to have many differences to what I have experienced at home.

The first obvious difference is the huge reduction in choice of medications. At home there are multiple antibiotics and seemingly hundreds of anti-hypertensives to choose from. Here the choice was a lot less which, I have to admit, makes it easier for someone who's pharmacology needs some work!

Another very apparent difference for me was the lack of privacy for the patients. At home you would never expect to give your medical history in front of anyone except the healthcare peofessional and your family. Here, the history was told in front of whoever happened to be in the clinic at the time. I think this reflects the cultural differences as much as the medical ones as there is less privacy here, mostly out of necessity. Houses are smaller and there are many people to a room so you are not going to have the luxury of mich privacy. However, I did wonder whether people are put off from visiting Chisang because of this but it is impossible to tell without knowing the community better and being able to speak directly to the villagers.

Many of the patients at the clinic were the same worried parents that you find in any GP surgery in England who want to ensure the cough or temperature their child has is not serious. The vast majority are not and just need reassurance and some calpol. This is where Chisang can really make a difference as it is a not-for-peodit organisation and so do not charge examination fees or make a profit on medication. This allows these parents to be able to afford to get medical advice for something that they may be very worried about, even if it is not life threatening. Even though a lot of the cases may not be very challenging it can make a huge difference in this community and the girls do a fantastic job.

Whilst living in Chisang I saw a whole new side of Nepal that was very different to my time in Gorkha. In large part because we were living in a Nepali's house and so we had no choice but to fully immerse ourselves in the culture, which was brilliant. I am going to miss the girls a lot and it's a very odd and also very sad to know that, after living with someone for five weeks, we will probably never see them again.

Trips to the Hills (2) - Ilam

Our second trip to the mountains has been on the cards, but not fully planned, for a while and this was a whole-clinic trip to Ilam, a part of Nepal famous for tea.

It was also meant to be an early start but 6am rapidly became 7am as Laxmi wasn't out of the shower at 6am and then, obviously, all the girls (and me) needed our make-up doing. The taxi driver who would be driving us all day is probably used to this as I know he does most of the driving for Chisang. He happily sat with a cup of tea while the girls all did their make-up and found the correct shoes. Some things in cultures don't change.

Our first stop off on this day-trip was a temple. I had been told that there were 100 steps up to the temple and I don't know whether I hadn't been listening or there was a mis-translation but 100 wasn't even close; which I quickly realised as around every corner there were just more steps. Again, the girls fitness isn't quite up to our own as they are all stick thin with little fat and even less muscle. Therefore, there were many stops on the way to the top which all served as an opportunity to take many photos which, if taken by a Nepali, are all at an angle - I think they must think we are a strange for taking them strictly landscape or portrait!

1,039 steps later we got to the top and had nicely warmed up. Before going into temples in Nepal you are meant to buy something from one of the stalls outside. I had never done this before as I have only ever been to commercial temples that I have had to pay for entry and never with someone who knows what they're doing. This time, however, we were encouraged to find something and so I had fun browsing the stalls and eventually found a bracelet. Nepal comes across as a very religiously tolerant country as Buddhism and Hinduism exist very happily side by side and I have not heard of it ever causing any problems. Among the things on sale there were also crosses and so it does suggest a general acceptance of any and all religions.

The temple was shrouded in mist which gave it a very nice atmosphere although the monkeys appearing out of no-where was a little alarming. There is always a smell of incense around as this is one of things that is placed in the temple - along with bracelets, small sweets and flowers. It's a good atmosphere, even for the unreligious, and everyone is very tolerant of foreigners and don't mind if we take photos or don't follow the exact rules. Again, a good reflection of the Nepalese attitude.

After walking down a path that would belongs on a trekking route we headed off for lunch and then went to see the tea plantations. By this point it was grey, misty, raining and felt very like and English summer. I had been advised that I should bring a jumper and had dug it out from the bottom of my bag and was now very grateful - I had expected to be using more suncream than layers!

To visit the tea plantation we literally stopped on the side of the road and walked into them. This is the great thing about visiting places with people from the country who speak the language and know what they're doing. You can avoid the touristy parts! We wandered amongst the plantations along mud paths which, as it was raining, were fairly slippery. Flip-flops weren't the best choice of footwear and Laxmi gave up and just took hers off. It was great fun wandering about and the girls insisted on many photos and Laxmi was in hysterics at one point for reasons I'm not quite sure about but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

As we headed back towards the van there were some ladies picking leaves who very kindly allowed me to take a photo. I have found this all over Nepal that people don't mind photos as long as you ask. When travelling in South America I found exactly the opposite but the attitudes here are very, very different. One woman made a comment to me including 'ram-ro' which means good and I would guess she was commenting on my kurta and it was lovely to hear from a complete stranger!

Before getting back into the van I managed to give Laxmi something else to laugh at as I slipped down the last bit of very steep and muddy pathway. As always, her laugh was good natured and it was pretty funny and, luckily, I only had one muddy knee so didn't look too ridiculous and wasn't too muddy for the drive back.

While we didn't actually have any tea from Ilam I would guess it's fairly similar to what we drink everyday here anyway. Plus visiting with the girls was much more fun than it would have been on our own and we got to see places that I'm sure we wouldn't have if we were on our own. It was a great day out for the whole clinic. It is also a reflection of how relaxed Nepal is that they can happily shut the clinic for a day with absolutely no warning!

Trips to the Hills (1) - Dhankuta

Over the past week we have made two separate trips to the hills in Nepal. They may not count as mountains here but I'm sure they would in England!

The first was to Dhankuta where two of the girls from the clinic were taking an exam. As there are not many patients coming into Chisang they asked if we would like to come to which is a chance we jumped at, as much to get away from the heat as anything!

The morning began very early - we were told we would be leaving at 4.30am. Naturally, this is Nepali timing and so we wondered out of the clinic at 5am to start the fairly long journey up to the mountains. As soon as we started climbing the mountain road we got a fantastic view over the valley and I realised how well populated it was; there are many more houses than I expected. I do not know if it is the different places that I have visited or if Nepal has moved forward a lot in the past four years but it does seem richer than when I was last here. There are quite a few houses that would be impressive in England, let alone by Nepalese standards.

It was a relief to get to Dhankuta and we settled into the hostel and enjoyed the feeling of sitting still without sweating and then went to explore the town a bit. After spending four weeks in the plains of Nepal it was a bit of a shock to suddenly have to climb a hill! Although after living in Sheffield I think both Josh and I fared better than Alka who had to stop regularly due to pain in her legs.

We visited a market in Dhankuta which was similar to the one we visited in Bhaunne, although on many more levels. Everyone sits on their plastic mat with their vegetables / clothes / whatever they are selling in front of them and people wander about and choose. We normally attract a fair bit of attention as it's very unusual to find foreigners in Bhaunne or Dhankuta and even less common to find them in a market. In fact when I bought my kutra in Bhuanne I turned around to find I had an audience of women who had been reviewing my purchase!

The visit to Dhankuta was only a couple of days but we found time to go for a walk. After many days in the clinic it was nice to go for a longer leg-stretch in different scenery and it really couldn't have been more different. Just outside of the town there is a fairly unpopulated part of the hillside that we could walk to the top of and see across the valley. It is always very peaceful in the mountains and you can spend a surprising amount of time sitting and watching the valley below. It always amazes me how much you can hear. Despite barely being able to see the bus on the road winding along the other side of the valley we could still hear it!

On the final day in Dhankuta was Alka and Degu's exam, which started at 4pm. Shockingly, this did start on time and is the first thing that I've encountered in Nepal that has done so. We wondered off to get a drink and returned when they had finished. After every exam that I have completed at university we have immediately walked out of the exam hall and into the pub. However, after their exam everyone needed to get back to where they came from, and some people had travelled considerable distances. Therefore there was a mad rush as everyone tried to get on a bus. We managed to cram onto one and, after filling it with as many people as possible, we started the 4 hour journey home. It is very different to the post-exam feel back at home which normally involves a good few drinks!

It was great to visit the mountains and see a bit more of Nepal but it was also strangely nice to get back to the clinic - and also Laxmi's cooking!